Kristin Aker Howell
I am a Teacher Librarian in Palo Alto Unified School District for Hoover Elementary School. You can visit our library virtually here. I founded Dancing Sheep Productions with the rock-star organist at my church, Joe Guthrie, and my husband, Dave, who is Senior Pastor.
I recently completed a middle grade novel set in a church eerily similar to mine. My husband and I sometimes debate whether this is a coincidence, a divine calling, or personal revenge. I hope, someday, you might be the judge.
I have been a classroom teacher in San Jose, a Teacher Librarian in San Jose, Daly City and now Palo Alto, an ice cream scooper, a toy salesperson, a Choir Director, a Systems Project Coordinator, a foster mom for dozens of kittens and a pizza maker. I skinny-dipped in Siberia and bought a toilet in Mexico. My office is filled with hundreds of books but there’s usually an iPad in my purse. I never want to be far from a story.
My personal essays have appeared in The San Jose Mercury News and GreenPrints. My short story, Bondo, received an honorable mention in the Glimmer Train Fiction Open. I earned my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Hamline University and my Library Credential from Fresno Pacific University. Both of those programs were blended learning, both in person and virtual, the situation in which I now teach during Covid-19. My Multi-Subject Teaching Credential from San Francisco State University and my BA from Lewis and Clark College were both earned back in the days before the internet.
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Loretta Ichord
September 11, 2012
Loved your short piece about 9/11, Kristin. Very heart warming and wonderful.
Deborah Davis
September 11, 2012
Thanks for the lovely 9-11 story, Kristen! Re: your bio: I relate to “I never want to be far from a story.” Amen.